\subsection*{Aim and Motivation}
This report investigates the behavioural difference, in respect to population sizes and spatial patterns, of multi-species cellular automata for discrete and continuous time steps. This is done by creating a program which simulates the outcomes of specific systems based upon rules and initial states determined by the user.

Cellular Automata are used across many fields of research including epidemiology, artificial life, social sciences and some scholars even question whether the universe itself is a cellular automaton\cite{universe}. These types of systems are often used for simulations of processes, such as the evolution of cooperation, in order to determine the spatial interactions and behaviours of the cells of differing species. This kind of modelling is generally carried out using discrete time steps; however, many processes in real life take place in continuous time. Due to this, it is necessary to determine whether this change makes a notable difference to the predictions of these models.

In order to determine any difference between these two approaches, a simulator needs to be developed capable of determining both the spatial properties of the system and the population sizes of all species based upon initial starting conditions, rules and properties determined by the user. This requires certain update rules for the discrete time model to be chosen to compare against the continuous time model and a set of procedures and methods to capture and compare metrics to establish any differences.

Currently when research is done using these types of models to determine the outcomes of simulations, details are not provided about the implementation of the simulator which makes it considerably more difficult to recreate the experiments. The aim of the project is to determine whether there are any notable differences between the use of discrete time cellular automata and their continuous time equivalent. If a difference is found, then a guideline would need to be established in order to determine when it is appropriate to use discrete time versus continuous time modelling approaches. This project builds on previous work in the same field attempting to determine whether the different possible update rules have an effect on the outcome of simulations run using cellular automata.

\subsection*{Outline of Report}
The remainder of this report covers how this problem was approached and the results obtained from it as such:
\begin{itemize}
\item Chapter \ref{chap:Background} covers the background information required on Cellular Automata to understand the rest of this report.
\item Chapter \ref{chap:Simulator} covers design of the simulator including the GUI.
\item Chapter \ref{chap:Experiments} explains the experiments which were run.
\item Chapter \ref{chap:Analysis} presents and discusses the results of the experiments.
\item Chapter \ref{chap:Conclusion} contains a conclusion of the findings of this projects and some proposed future work.
\end{itemize} 
